Morning journal and courier., 1887-08-16

CT" style, whose endless reiteration is even more aggravatingly annoying than his natu- ral screaming and chattering. bird like this in the early morning can make the seek CT for an extra nap believe that twenty thou sand parrots is too small an estimate of the city's parrot population.
 The screeching nuisance can be discour- aged and ultimately reformed by judiciouslv administered punishments. The vocabulary can be extended and made interesting by careful training, and some melodious and tuneful whistling may be taught as pleas ant ad junct to the spoken word. Then the bad parrot having become good, bad feelings will disappear from the neighborhood. The reason there are so few good parrots is found in the great mortality among these birds. While in the process of reformation and ed ucation they die in such numbers that a steady stream of recruits is necessarily kept coming into the country. The result is to keep down the proportion of good parrots, birds that can talk considerably, swear intel tigibly, sing something and whistle tunes.
 A reporter had his attention attracted by a fine parrot in front of Jefferson market the other day. Stopping to look at it, his thoughts reverted to the appalling death-rate among parrots, and he was pitying the pret- ty fellow when the latter suddenly perked his head sideways with the question:
 
 lowed by burst of uproarious laughter. The owner of the parrot John Morris, the florist, was for years bird fancier, though he does not now keep birds for sale. MT. Morris talked entertainingly.
 ''Sam is a very smart bird," said he. 'I call him Sam for short. His full name is Samuel J. Randall When you are disposed l to pity sam on account of any impression on your part that he is in danger of losing his excellent health you are away off. I have thre9 other parrots in just as good shape It ! is the effect of their care and diet. They get 10 bread, no coffee, no fruit, no vegeta- ! bles, no hemp seed and especially no neat They do get plenty of good plain canary seed, water and a liberal supply of sand and gravel. Two-thirds of the mortality among parrots comes from overfeeding. Some years ago I came to this conclusion. The ! birds that came to me sick and feverish, with ragged, dull and dirty plumage, were so evidently suffering from dyspepsia that overfeeding was the first thought as to the cause. In their confined state, having little or no exercise, they suffer if they are stuffed with rich, heavy food.
 | ''It occurred to me that canary seed con- | tained all the necessary element of nourish- 5 ment in simple, easily digestible form. l determined to make the experiment. A sick parrot that was brought in to me was | chosen promising subject. He had sui fered from dyspepsia for months, and was a miserable looking bird that seemed bound to die anyway. I thought he might as we'll die testing my treatment as to per- | ish in the old-fashioned way of being ! stuffed to death I put him in a clean cage and for twenty-four hours put no food of any kind in the cups. Then I put in little hemp seed, so that the bird ! would neither starve nor get enough to eat. The hemp seed lasted only 8 part of the | day, and the next morning ! put in some rUoc gone that day the bird began picking at and playing with the canary seed. In a 1 day or two he had learned to crack and eat it. Then I gradually lessened the quan- | tity of hemp seed, and after a while SUD- piled nothing but the canary seed. Old bird-fanciers shook their heads and said the \ bird could not live on canary seed alone, and ! that I was bound to lose him. But perse- vered and the result justified me. The bird | steadily improved in condition and plumage | I have since repeated the treatment many ! times with the same success, and have adop ! ted canary seed as the standard and sole ! food for my parrots. Several fanciers and l ladies who have seen my birds tried it too I and tell you of it for the benefit of tho ! public"
 ''Do parrots have to be kept in a very ! warm temperatures"
 ''That is the popular belief, but my expe ! rience has been that parrots can be made ca pablo of enduring as much cold as any other bird''
 "What is your opinion as to the merits ! of the different breedsi"
 ! 'There are individual exceptions. but think that the Mexican double yellow head | is the best all round bird. He is apt to l talk well, sing well and whistle nicely. ! The African gray, with red tail feathers, talks veil and whistles, but rarely sings.
 These birds die in great numbers either or l the voyage or soon after their importation, 6 result largely due I think to their feeding | They get soaked bread. bread and milk, crack
 CTS and coffee and cracked corn. If they were I trained to eat canary seed before shipment ! nine-tenths of the consignments would come ! through all right and keep in good condition I afterward. African parrots are less excitable
 than those from our tropical regions, and are ! more easily domesticated and become more at ! tached to their owners.
 ;'The Brazilian yellow neck or golden napt l is also magnificent specimen of the talking l parrot, but he is excitable and nervous. Hit ] voice is full and human-like, but he does no
 learn readily and never has much of 8 vocabu
 lary. The single yellow head, a Centra | American variety, is good bird and many oi ! them turn out to be excellent takers They | also learn to sing and whistle"
 ''Do parrots ever forget what they have ac quired?'
 ''Indeed they do. Many persons believ' ! that if they get a good talking bird it will con
 tinue to talk well. This is a mistake. Tn
 memory of parrot has to be often refreshed | A bird that has been trained to talk ant
 whistle and sing would, if left to itself for
 few months, forget these accomplishment
 and take up the cries and screams of it's wilt I state"
 Do parrots breed in captivity9"
 'sThey have been bred in France. But i l is a troublesome and expensive task to do it ! RaaidA9 the hirHS nyclfAhlA 1 when mating that they become united fo pets. They breed so rapidly in such wid
 extent of territory, where they remain wild
 that the supply is ample and cheap, ant | there is not sufficient inducemeut to try tt ! raise them here."